Game Over File 2: The Crystal Catastrophe
by supercomputer276
Summary: Several months after the invasion of the Game Over, Karma is spirited away. The Game Over is back, and this time Yosie wishes to cure himself of his worst fear: his own mortality. Can the Mario Brothers and Koopalings be able to stop him in time?
1. Prolouge: A Fabulous Prize

**Prolouge: A Fabulous Prize**

Several months have passed since the events of Yosie and the Game Over invasion. It all started when Yosie, the young leader of Game Over, kidnapped Wendy, Karma, Peach, and Toad, and then spirited them away in his flagship, the G. O. S. Starstruck. Bowser, Mario, Luigi, and the Koopalings gave chase, but only Mario, Ludwig and Morton managed to find the base on the edge of the Mushroom Kingdom, hollowed out of a huge mountain called Mt. Majesty. The three were captured by Yosie, his second-in-command 666 the Fire Bro., and the four G. O. Commandos: Doopliss, Lord Crump, Bombette, and Susan B. Koopa. Nevertheless, all seven managed to escape, but Yosie took Karma and fled on the Starstruck, Ludwig and Mario close behind.

As the final battle ensued, Yosie tried to destroy Ludwig with the potent MegaCannon, but it was destroyed as Bowser finally intercepted the corrupt human's doomship. Calling in a powerful Ztar, Yosie increased his attacks and transformed into two powerful forms, but Mario managed to save Karma and all four managed to defeat him. Immediately afterward, Yosie and his officers disappeared as the downed Starstruck, its engine blown out by a bolt of lightning, sunk into the Mushroom Sea. The four fighters managed to meet with the other hostages at the coast, courtesy of Lemmy and his hijack of a small enemy ship.

Since then, nothing more has been heard of Yosie or the Game Over. All the strange events that did happen during that time have already been written into Fun Fictions by other tourists… except for a certain few stories.

First of all, Kamek's wand suddenly went disappearing one day without a trace. No one had seen it. However, it mysteriously turned up the next day, right where he left it. When an expert Koopa detective investigated the crime, he couldn't find any clues nor concoct how it went missing.

Second, Bowser wanted to try and exploit the base, but since he didn't know where it was, he couldn't. Wendy, Morton, Ludwig, or Karma wouldn't tell him. Karma had persuaded the others to do so because she had seen what the 15-year-old was capable of: he had copied and modified Wendy's wand, rerouted Bombshell Bills, and drastically weakened her Metbond with Ludwig. It was now so weak, they would feel a twinge of pain only if they were on opposite sides of the world.

She also thought Yosie had had it in for her in some way, besides wanting to kidnap her and make her part of his squad of third-in-commands, the G. O. Commandos. But what?

Little did she realize she'd have the answer for that a lot sooner then she thought…

OoOoO

There was a knock on the front door of Castle Koopa. Karma, who happened to be passing by, answered it.

Outside was a Lakitu. He wore sunglasses and a black shell, had a brown mess of hair on his head, and his cloud also had sunglasses.

"Are you Karma A. Koopa?" he asked, adjusting his shades.

"Yes."

He pulled Karma outside.

"Then you, my lady, are the winner of a fabulous trip to a surprise location!"

"What?"

"I said…"

"I know what you said. What fabulous trip? And who are you anyway?"

"The name's Scott Charles Tut the seventy-sixth. I'm from the Koopa Kingdom lottery, and you are today's lucky winner!"

"And my prize?"

"A hot-air balloon trip to an island in the south, with light breezes, wide beaches, and plenty of great natural attractions."

"Keelhaul Key?"

"No."

"Then where?"

"You'll see. Just come with me!"

And despite Karma's remarks and struggling, Scott led Karma out the front gates, where a white hot-air balloon and another Lakitu were waiting.

"Karma, allow me to introduce you to my assistant, Douglas Gaston."

"How are ya?" Douglas asked Karma.

"All right…" she replied, a little uneasy.

A small set of stairs led into the balloon's basket.

"Come, come," Scott said, taking Karma up the steps, "It looks like you need a break from this old place."

"But Ludwig'll be worried…"

"Tell you what; I'll leave these Koopas a note. You just wait here."

Scott reentered the castle commons. Karma was about to get out of the basket when Douglas floated right above the top step, blocking her way out.

"Hey! What gives?"

"What, you wanna run off on your prize?"

A few moments later, Scott reappeared.

"I pinned a note to the front door. Don't worry, they'll see it. And with that, we're off!"

Scott and Douglas got in the basket and began to start up the burner, and soon the balloon was off.

"Hey, even if I wanted to go, I didn't pack!" Karma complained.

"It don't matter," Douglas said, "Where you're going, you won't need baggage."

After Karma thought this over, she found a pro to this situation: at least she won't be near Bowser and the other Koopalings that ran for cover when she approached. Come on, even Morton would practically staple his mouth in her proximity. But the phrase, "where you're going," sounded strangely familiar.

_Perhaps it's for the best,_ she thought.


	2. Chapter 1: Decieved

**CHAPTER 1: Deceived**

Scott, Karma, and Douglas flew south in the hot-air balloon through the sun-bright air above a flawless blue sea.

"We should be arriving at our destination shortly," Scott said.

Karma was enjoying the ride, but inside she was worried. There was no Koopa Kingdom lottery as far as she knew, and she never heard of any Scott Charles Tut, first or seventy-sixth or anywhere in between.

"We're here," Douglas said, "Take a look."

Karma peered over the edge of the basket and saw a welcome sight.

"That's Dinosaur Land!" she cried.

"Exacti-cally!" Scott said, "We'll drop you off at Cookie Mountain."

Karma was delighted. Cookie Mountain was where her tribe lived… as well as her parents. She hadn't seen them in a long time.

Scott and Douglas lowered the balloon level with the mountain's flat top, where another Lakitu was waiting. This one had a green shell, shades, and a green tuft of hair on his head.

"Welcome to Cookie Mountain," the Lakitu said, helping Karma, "The name's Spike."

"Hello, Spike," Karma replied. Spike got in the basket with Scott and Douglas.

Karma peered over the plain before her. There were several rocks and scattered vegetation. She also saw a dot on the horizon, which could only be the Yoshi village.

"Say, thank-" she said as she turned back toward the balloon, but stopped as she saw the basket, which had moved from the cliff and was hovering farther then she could jump. Inside the basket, the three Lakitus were snickering.

"Hey, I'm going to need that balloon to get back to the castle!" Karma cried to them.

"Well," Scott said, "there's one tiny itsy-bitsy little detail involved in this trip we forgot to mention."

"What?"

Douglas gave an evil laugh before transforming into a very familiar figure.

"It only goes one way!" Doopliss cried.

"Doopliss!" Karma cried, "What are you doing here?"

"Have you forgotten already?" Doopliss teased, "I'm a Game Over Commando."

"I know that! But where's Yosie?"

"Right here!" Scott cried.

"But you're a Lakitu! Yosie's a human!"

"Not anymore, I'm not! Scott Charles Tut abbreviated is SCT. The real name: supercomputer2, and then the seventy-six to 76. In all… supercomputer276!"

Doopliss spoke next. "Douglas Gaston. D. G. Duplighost!"

"Then who are you?" Karma asked Spike.

"Nothing more then the fifth G. O. Commando!" Spike replied, "Real name's Lakilester, but I like Spike. I joined the Game Over after I found its leader had decided to become a Lakitu."

Karma tried to flaw the three's reasoning. After all, one little detail made Yosie's whole plan fall apart last time. "How could you become a Lakitu, Yosie? The only way a human can turn into a Koopa-"

"-is by Kamek's wand. I know. I know. Why do you think it disappeared for a day?"

"What?!"

"It took that long for my computer to copy and transfer all that data from that wand to my own." To further press his point, he pulled out the G. O. Wand. It was like any other wand, except its point was split into four colors: white, black, orange, and purple. "Once that was done, I returned it and used the data to alter my DNA into that of a Lakitu. I'll admit, it was not a comfortable process. I also applied a few of my wand's elemental energies to my cloud, which was a product of a split of Spike's cloud. I just used a bit of magic and BAM! When I transformed, it became my cloud."

"But… but that's…"

"Improbable and illogical?" Yosie answered, "Yes, but you know what I'm capable of."

Karma started to drop her head.

"Yes," she slowly and sadly replied, "I do."

"Now I bet your wondering what I'm doing here. I'll admit it now." He looked back and forth to make sure all four of them were alone. "I have a morbid fear of death."

"Everyone has that."

"Yeah, but not in my way. I became a Lakitu to lengthen my life span, but it's not enough. I had to find a way to make myself live forever. As an unrecognized Lakitu, I leafed through several magic books in libraries all over the kingdom. Finally, I found the article I wanted: a combination of magical objects that could make a Koopa that bathed in it immortal, but it required too much electricity then a wand could make and thus was deemed impossible."

_I have a feeling I know what's coming next,_ Karma thought.

"As you might expect," Yosie continued, "I've developed a machine that will do the job just fine: take the items and use electricity to make the formula to eternity!"

"You're insane!" Karma yelled.

"Thank you," Yosie replied, "By the way and FYI, my offer as a Commando from last time still stands."

"I still don't want to join you! You said you never lost, and yet last time we met you did!"

"That was not a loss! Only a minor setback. OK, mayor. I lost my flagship and some of my reputation, but since my computer-generated army had no where else to go, my offensive has not crippled in the slightest. I've been looking to add Yoshis to my squads because of their multiple attacks and high stamina, and guess who I want to lead them?"

"I have a guess… me."

"Correct! Now, I'm offering you a job and I'll show you just how good a boss I am."

"How?" Karma asked in a sarcastic tone.

"Hey, I brought you to Dinosaur Land, right next to your tribe. And this is just the beginning, as my Commandos get bonuses year round. You just didn't see it because our previous engagement didn't last more then a day."

Karma was weighing the scales. While she knew these guys wanted to conquer the multiverse, Bowser and the Koopalings didn't exactly let her have shore leave back home.

"Give me some time to think about it." She said this with pure honesty.

"Fair enough," Yosie said. "We'll be back soon. And with that… BAM! We're gone!" A wave of the G. O. Wand and the balloon and its passengers disappeared.

Karma turned around and ran toward the dot on the horizon. To be perfectly honest, she was glad to be home.


	3. Chapter 2: The Search of the Stars

**Chapter 2: The Search of the Stars**

Bowser and Morton walked down the castle hallway. Both were silent from anticipation. For the strangest of reasons, the Koopa family still hadn't used their technique of talking the Mushroom Kingdom to sleep since they came up with it months ago. This was mostly due to the Game Over Invasion and the events mentioned in the Prologue, but finally, they were ready. Morton held the megaphone needed to project his voice across the enemy territory and rock everyone to dreamland.

However, it shall be derailed once again. As they passed the front door, they saw a note pinned to it. It was folded in half.

"Morton, go see what that says," Bowser said.

Morton made his way over and pulled the note off the door, unfold it, and read it to himself.

_Gack ack ack ack ack!_ it read, _Soon, I shall be invincible, and there won't be a thing you can do! Stay out of my affairs or you'll daughter-in-law will suffer the consequences!_ At the bottom was a crude but decent sketch of Karma and a stamp of a Poison Mushroom.

"D- D- DAD!" Morton stammered. Bowser hurried over, snatched the note, and quickly read it.

"YOSIE!" he growled loudly, crumpling the note in his claw.

"What'd we do, King Dad? Karma's been, has, just got swiped, kidnapped, abducted, spirited awa-"

"What will we do?" Bowser interrupted, "WHAT WILL WE DO? Absolutely nothing."

"Wha-"

"Just what I said, we'll do nothing. About time we got her out of the house."

"But last time-"

"Was because I cared about Ludwig. Keep your big mouth shut about this, Big Mouth, or I'll throw you in the dungeon for life." Bowser left with the note, leaving Morton standing right in front of the door.

OoOoO

The balloon materialized in a fruited plain in which Mt. Majesty, the Game Over hideaway, looked over, in all its purple… well, majesty.

With expert skill, Spike landed the balloon, and he, Yosie, and Doopliss came out and hit the ground. At least, Doopliss did. Spike and Yosie floated.

"Well, I think that went rather well," Yosie said.

"You still haven't told us the bulk of your plan," Doopliss said, "I know we need the kid for the GOM1, but are you still going to offer her third-in-command status considering what she'll be when we're done with her?"

"We can always find someone else, mind you."

"For Commando?"

"No, for GOM1. Now let's get back to base."

They deflated the balloon, hid it in a safe spot, and made their way towards Mt. Majesty.

OoOoO

"Approximately…" Ludwig strained as he tightened a stubborn bolt on his newest creation, "at location… There! This device will check the status of my Metbond… I hope."

He turned the machine on and it exploded.

"Oh, DAD, am I forever doomed to repeat this horrible disaster?" he cried.

He decided to have a talk with Karma. After all, they were starting to like each other a bit more since the events of the Game Over. However, as he left his room, he ran into Morton, who was just entering.

BUMP! They fell on the floor.

"Sibling, what was the cause of that you charging into my personal quarters like that?"

Morton was bug-eyed, freaked out, and heavily shaking. "W-W-W-Well…"

"What?"

"B-b-b-but Dad s-s-said n-not to t-t-t-tell anyone…"

"This is much unlike you. What is the cause? I have a right to know!"

"K-K-K-Karma…"

"What about Karma?"

"G-G-G-Game O-Over!"

"WHAT?!"

Morton couldn't hold it in.

"I CONFESS, ADMIT, GIVE OFF! KARMA HAS BEEN ABDUCTED, STOLEN, KIDNAPPED FROM OUR CASTLE, KEEP, HOME BY SUPERCOMPUTER276!"

He fainted from lack of breath.

Worried, Ludwig left Morton gasping on the floor and began searching the entire castle, finding no trace of Karma.

Bowser, however, heard Morton, and found the big-mouthed Koopa in Ludwig's front door.

"MORTON, YOU MORON!" he roared, "NOW LUDWIG WILL INSIST WE DO SOMETHING!"

"Glad I got it off my chest, however," Morton gasped.

At that moment, Ludwig rounded the corner.

"King Dad, Karma is not on the premises! We must take action!"

"We'll take no action whatsoever! It's about time that piece of filth got out of my house."

"FATHER!"

"She's half-Yoshi, for DAD's sake!"

"I don't care!" Once again, Ludwig's anger surpassed his desire to use long, complicated, hard-to-spell words.

"All right. All right!" Bowser yielded, "We'll try to find her."

"Bravo!" Ludwig cried, "We shall commence this investigation by reviewing the footage taken by the observation units."

"Wait, don't tell me… we'll start with the security cameras."

"That's what I said!"

"Come on, Morton." Bowser picked the out-of-breath Koopaling off the floor and put him on his feet. "You're coming along."

"Why me?"

"'Cause I still want this to be a secret. Now let's go!"

OoOoO

The trio of terror arrived at Mt. Majesty through the ground level tunnel.

Yosie pulled a megaphone out of his cloud. "G. O. Commandos!!" he called through it, "SOUND OFF!"

Doopliss and Spike got in line with five more figures that arrived. As Yosie floated by, they gave roll call.

"Doopliss!"

"Spike!"

"Susan!"

"Bombette!"

"Lord Crump!"

"General Guy!"

"Dicer!"

Dicer was a Boomerang Bro with a gray shell. He was very special since he was different from the other Commandos: he was the only one made by Yosie via computer code, like most of the army.

"Commandos, which one of youse know about my plan?"

All seven raised their hand or made an affirmative gesture.

"In full?"

They all put their hands down and stopped the gestures.

"I thought not."

"Come on, boss," Dicer said with a slight British accent, "What's the job?"

Yosie turned around.

"Fine. I'll tell you. You all know about the GOM1?"

They all nodded.

"Code name?"

"The Life Drainer!" they said in unison.

"Right."

"We know we need life for it to work," Bombette said, "but you never told us what else."

"Well, I am now." Yosie passed out lists to all of the Commandos. They all read the same thing.

Star Rod

Seven Star Spirits (in card form)

Seven Crystal Stars

Seven Magic Wands

Seven Young Souls

Blood of an Immortal

Chunk of a Dark Spirit

Young souls shall be:

Goombella

Koopie Koo

Petuni

Eve

Ms. Mowz

Vivian

Karma Koopa

"Finished reading?"

The Commandos pocketed the lists and nodded.

"Right. Get the G. O. S. Volcano prepped and as many fighters as you can. We're storming Star Haven!"

OoOoO

Ludwig ran through the security footage in the castle's system. It followed Karma from her room to the front door when she stopped. She opened the door and outside was a Lakitu. He couldn't tell much due to the black and white tape, but he could tell that for some reason, the Lakitu had a full head of hair. The Lakitu in question pulled Karma outside.

A few mintues passed, the Lakitu reentered the house. He pulled a pencil and a piece of paper out of his cloud, wrote something on it, pulled out a stamp and stamped the bottom of the paper. He put the stamp and pencil away, and pinned the paper, now folded in half, to the door before passing through the portal himself.

"We better observe the courtyard recording," he said to Morton and Bowser, who were in the room with him.

Ludwig started to rewind the tape and then he synchronized the timeline of it with that of the one over the front courtyard. By "synchronized," I mean when the two tapes played, they show exactly the same moment.

When the Lakitu pulled Karma out, they had a conversation before the Lakitu started to drag Karma off the grounds, out of the camera's viewing range. Ludwig was slightly relieved to see Karma had put up a decent fight. A few moments passed after they left before the Lakitu reappeared and reentered the castle. He wrote the note, left, and once again exited the grounds.

"I have a bad feeling about that Lakitu…" Bowser said, "Ludwig, you're on your own." He started to leave.

"FATHER!"

"I'd said I'd try. I couldn't care less about her anyway." The Koopa King left.

Ludwig watched for a moment before printing out a shot of the security footage with most of the strange cloud-rider's body in view.

"Come on, Morton. It will do better for the case if the two of us inquire the castle sentries."

"We ask the guards about the Lakitu?"

"Exactly!" They left the security booth.


	4. Chapter 3: Star Haven Storm

**Chapter 3: Star Haven Storm**

Eldstar gazed around the chamber. The remaining Star Spirits were at their posts, the Star Rod in the center of the rounded chamber, and everything more peaceful then a Bowser-free summer in Toad Town.

Boy, was it getting boring. The only things that broke the never ending silence were stars coming into the Star Sanctuary with the wishes of Pilt's residents below. The only other organic life form in the building was a Star Kid named Twink, who had been an apprentice Star Spirit since the fiasco with Bowser and the Star Rod. His post was a crystal half the size of the regular ones, in between Eldstar and the one on his left, Mamar.

_Boy,_ Eldstar's bored mind thought, _I wish something would happen…_

Suddenly, the entire building began to quake. Everyone noticed.

_I was thinking along the lines of something positive…_

Without warning, a Bombshell Bill burst through the ceiling and hit the floor. No one was hurt, but more Bombshells were appearing, and the "hole" effect started to eat up the roof.

"Honorable Star Spirit!" Twink asked as he flew over, "What's going on?!"

The roof gave way and crashed to the floor around the Star Rod, revealing a lava red doomship in the dark sky above.

"Is this Bowser's doing again?" Misstar thought out loud.

A voice pierced the night air in response.

"Bowser? Oh no. It's something much worse…"

Bombshell Bill Blasters were mounted on the sides of the doomship, and they continued to rain the gold bullets through the ceiling, caving in smaller parts of the roof.

"G. O. Commandos!" the voice said, "ATTACK!"

_G. O. Commandos?_ Eldstar thought, _The Game Over must be attacking again!_ One of Peach's recent wishes was that this wouldn't happen. Another G. O. invasion, of course. She never really thought of the Star Sanctuary's roof caving in.

A rope extended from the bottom of the ship and Doopliss, Susan, Bombette, Lord Crump, General Guy, and Dicer began to slide down. Yosie and Spike used their clouds to float down.

The Commandos took their positions surrounding the pedestal that held the Star Rod while Yosie investigated it.

"That was almost too easy! Getting the next set of objects will be a piece of cake."

"It'll be stale cake if you don't tell us what business you have here!" Twink sassed.

"Twink, keep your temper…" Eldstar warned.

"Aww, look," Yosie teased, "The old man is lecturing the baby. Now I will take what I require and be on my way."

He moved his cloud into position approximately ten feet from the Star Rod.

_Breathe in, breathe in, breathe in…_ he willed.

Lakitus have a psychic connection with their cloud, so the cloud began to pull in air.

_Breathe fire out, breathe fire out, breathe fire out…_

Suddenly, the cloud exhaled a huge jet of burning blue flames. The only damage was the top of Crump's, Doopliss's, and Spike's head got singed; Bombette's fuse was lit and she exploded; and the crystal cover surrounding the Star Rod melted away. It was the last of these three effects that Yosie targeted for.

"The Star Rod!" Twink gasped as Yosie snatched it up.

"Gack ack!" Yosie laughed, "Now what did Bowser do? Oh yeah. He did _this!_"

He waved the Star Rod and sent out a wave of yellow. However, the Star Sprits remained pretty much unaffected.

"Apparently that's not it… perhaps it's _this!_"

Another wave of yellow, but nothing.

"Boss, hurry it up…" Dicer warned, "They're looking angry…"

"GOT IT! This is the Star Rod, so I've got to _wish_ for it!" He thought hard about the Star Spirits trapped in cards. "And with that… BAM! It's done!"

Another wave of yellow, and this time it got the job done. The Spirits spun for a bit before being captured in cards and drifting to the floor.

"Third time's the charm." Yosie stuffed the Star Rod in his cloud and pulled out the G. O. Wand. "Magical Magnet!" he cried. The seven Spirit cards flew into his outstretched hand.

"Seven Spirit Stud," he joked as he made sure they were all there. "Let's blow this joint." The rope descended from the G. O. S. Volcano. Yosie and Spike flew up while the rest climbed from the almost deserted chamber.

I say "almost" because Twink had hidden behind his crystal perch since a few seconds before the firing of the first wave. He emerged as soon as the Volcano was out of sight.

"The honorable Star Spirits!" he gasped, "I've got to tell someone! Mario! Peach! Maybe Luigi even!!"

He quickly flew away.


	5. Chapter 4: Trek or Treat

A/N: Oh gods, looking back on this now it makes me gag, so horrible. But I might as well put it up, if only because I'm bored.

**Chapter 4: Trek or Treat**

Ludwig and Morton made their way to the room where the guards often stayed when they weren't on duty, as the shift that was on when Karma was taken by that Lakitu was over.

"That Lakitu?" one of the guards, a Koopatrol, replied when the Koopalings showed him the picture and asked if they seen the Lakitu, "Yeah, I've seen him. Claimed to be Scott Charles Tut the seventy-sixth and the head of the Koopa Kingdom lottery. Said he had a prize for Miss Karma. There was another Lakitu and a white hot-air balloon outside. Lakitu was Douglas Gaston, I think. They brought Miss Karma, put her in the balloon, and flew off."

In Ludwig's room, the two Koopalings went over the info.

"There's no Koopa Kingdom lottery," Morton said, "King Dad never authorized any such thing. I have a feeling those two Lakitus made it up!"

"Worse yet, I've checked the army register," Ludwig added, "Scott Charles Tut isn't in the listing, first to seventy-sixth, and neither is Douglas Gaston."

"Perhaps they are members of the Game Over? We know they have to be involved somewhat, because of that note. I doubt anyone would have access to a Poison Mushroom stamp otherwise."

Ludwig had limited each of Morton's insights to three sentences.

"We both know where Mt. Majesty is," Ludwig said, "We better get going."

Morton responded with a nod. Suddenly, the other five Koopalings burst in.

"What's youse doing in here all by yourselves?" asked Roy.

"No one's business buy my own and Morton's," Ludwig replied, standing up.

"Roy, we already know what's going on," Lemmy sounded, perched on his favorite ball.

"You WHAT?!" Ludwig was shocked. "How did you learn about Karma?"

"We overheard Dad telling Kamek about the kidnapping," Iggy said.

"We knew you'd go after her until you learned about the condition the two of you are in," Wendy continued.

"So we're coming along!" Larry finished.

"No way, no how, rejected, vetoed, voided-" Roy socked Morton in the mouth.

"I insist you stay here and keep quiet," Ludwig said, "If King Dad knows you know, we'll all be in trouble!"

"We're not taking 'No' fer an answer, Kooky von Koopa," Roy retorted, "We're going with youse and Big Mouth whether youse like it or no!"

"Seeing as the odds of me transforming your choices are null, if you insist."

"The chances are low that we'll change our minds," Lemmy translated, "so we can go if we want!"

"HUZZAH!" the other four cried.

"We better set off immediately," Iggy said, "Don't want to be late for dinner."

"Heard its Shroom Steak again," Wendy commented.

"YUK!" Larry choked, "Maybe missing dinner isn't such a bad thing after all."

After the Koopalings stopped laughing, they began to organize how to get out of the castle. Larry, being the sneaky one he was, volunteered to be scout in case Bowser was roaming the corridors for some reason. Ludwig disabled the security cameras from the room to the front hall. Roy had a hammer in his shell to bludgeon any wandering guards so they couldn't alert Dad.

Finally, everything was ready.

"Here goes nothing…" Larry whispered as he and Roy slipped out of the room.

***

Karma finally arrived at the village… or at least, what was left. Several Yoshis of multiple colors were at work trying to rebuild the chaos that was left after the red-dressed plumber went through asking for help.

She scanned the area with her eyes, and found the two she was looking for: a purple-shelled Koopa and a green Yoshi were working together building a hut.

She approached. "Mom? Dad?" she said softly.

***

The G. O. S. Volcano moved through the outskirts of the Mushroom Kingdom as it flew toward Dark Land. Doopliss and Bombette were alone on deck. Everyone else had either gone to their cabins or the galley.

"Yuk yuk yuk yuk yuk yuk!" Doopliss laughed, "That was hardly a fight at Star Haven! Why didn't they attack, I'd like to know?"

"That's 'cause they're keepers of the peace," Bombette replied, "Trust me, I know."

"So, what's it like working with Slick anyway?"

"He wanted me to blow up at certain spots. Lucky for me, I don't kill myself all those times."

"Real drag, huh?"

"Pretty much, and then I found out he was just… he was just…"

"Nah, don't think about that," Doopliss said in an attempt to comfort her, "Now you're against that good-for-nothing plumber! Feel better?"

Doopliss didn't get a reply, because at that moment, Yosie burst out of his cabin, only he was different. He wore his usual shirt underneath his shell. Readers of my last story would know what it looks like, but for newcomers, it was black with a Poison Mushroom and the words "Game Over" under it.

"Boy am I feeling GOOD to-DAY!"

"Enthusiastic, Yosie?" Bombette asked.

"Nah, it just feels so good to be able to wear this shirt again. I had to duplicate and shrink it very precisely, but it fits like a charm. Plus, I cursed it to grow along with me so I don't ever have to take it off!"

"Really like it, don't ya?" Doopliss said.

"Of course!" He floated over to them, "Now, to business. What's our position?"

"We're approaching Dark Land. Wait for it…" Doopliss said. He started to slowly count down, "three… two… one… zero."

As soon as he said zero, the sky turned black and the sun disappeared. The land below turned from meadows and forests to wastelands and dead trees.

"We've finally arrived," Yosie said, rubbing his hands together, "Excellent. Get the other Commandos and have the armory prepare the Bombshell Bills. We need seven Magic Wands, and I know just where they are."

***

"You go left, I go right," Larry said to Roy.

"Right."

"No, left."

They took their routes away from Ludwig's room. Larry reached the corner and peered around. A Koopatrol was walking down the hallway.

Larry reached into his shell and pulled out a brass telescope. He normally used it to spy, but it had another purpose if used properly. Completely extending it, he twisted it like a baseball bat. As the Koopatrol passed the corridor…

SLAM! The guard never knew what was coming.

Roy moved over to him.

"Nice. The other corridor's clear."

"Right. Let's take that route."

He followed Roy the other way. Once seeing the route was clear, he motioned to Ludwig, who was just in the doorway of his room. Ludwig tiptoed out of the room towards Larry. Behind him in single file were Iggy, Lemmy, Wendy, and Morton in that order. Morton had duct tape over his mouth as a precaution. No need to make loud, out-of-the-ordinary, Bowser-and-trouble-attracting noises.

All seven gathered at the end of the hallway. Following what Ludwig calculated to be the best way out of the castle, Larry and Roy managed to lead everyone to the front door.

***

"So, if we send in the Bob-ulks along the left flank," Kamek said, using a slider to move the token for a Bob-ulk squadron on the war map, "as well as a squad of Spiky Goombas to the right flank…" He moved the appropriate token.

"Would result in total disaster!" Kammy Koopa criticized.

"Look, just because you haven't come up with any great plans-"

"That one with the Star Rod would've worked if Mario wasn't found by that little Goomba girl!"

"Quiet," Bowser said. Kammy and Kamek shut up and listened.

Silence.

"I don't hear anything," Kamek whispered.

"Didn't Morton have his speech about speeches scheduled in the auditorium today?" Kammy whispered.

"Yeah," Bowser also whispered, "We should be able to hear something. Something screwy is going on around here…"

***

"Bowser's Keep is just ahead, boss," Dicer said as he peered ahead from the bow, "But something's out of place that might botch the job."

"Gimme that," Yosie said, snatching the telescope from Dicer and peering into the courtyard. "Those Koopa brats are trying to get out. Wonder why their sneaking away in single file like that? Don't matter."

"Doesn't matter."

"Whatever. All the same, our job just got easier. Won't have to waste artillery on the walls now."

***

Exhausted from all the flying, Twink finally arrived at Princess Peach's Castle.

"Huff… Puff… Tough flight… Wheeze… Don't understand why the Embers were out in force…"

He flew up to the balcony of Peach's room and proceeded to tap as hard as he could on the glass door separating the two. However, due to his state and size, it wasn't very loud.

Fortunately, it was loud enough for Peach, who was in the room at the time. She opened the door, and he slowly floated in.

"Twink!" Peach cried, "Are you OK?"

"Not really… puff…" he managed to get out, "Embers attacking… huff… in force… puff… taking over Star Haven…"

"Is that it? Why couldn't the Star Spirits stop them?"

"That's what I came to tell you… wheeze… The G. O. Commandos attacked… puff… took the Star Rod… huff… and the honorable Star Spirits…"

Twink fainted and fell to the floor.

***

"Slowly… slowly…" Larry whispered as they made their way across the courtyard.

Suddenly, a huge shadow appeared. Knowing what happened last time it suddenly got darker then usual, all seven looked up.

A huge red doomship hovered over the courtyard.

"The Game Over," Wendy said, "I saw that ship in their hanger when I was kidnapped."

"What's Yosie want now?" Roy asked.

"I don't know, Roy," Lemmy replied, "but I bet it has something to do with that hybrid."

"Ten coins say she isn't mentioned," Iggy sounded.

"Deal."

Five hatches on the bottom of the ship opened and Doopliss, Bombette, Susan, General Guy, and Dicer lowered on extendo-hands. Two Lakitus flew from the ship's deck to join them.

"Trick or treat!" one of the Lakitus said, "Now for the goodies!"

Ludwig was quickly comparing the Lakitu to the security photo. "I know now! You're Scott Charles Tut the seventy-sixth!"

The Lakitu gave a Grodus-like laugh.

"Quite so, but I'm better known as supercomputer276."

"So that means…" Larry spoke.

"Correct! I'm the king of cool, the kid of chaos, and the emperor of evil… Yosie!"

"Now I realize it," Ludwig said, "SCT76. Should've known."

"Well," Yosie said, adjusting his shades, "Karma couldn't figure it out until Douglas Gaston turned into Doopliss."

"You lose," Lemmy said to Iggy. Iggy grumbled as he shoved ten coins into Lemmy's outstretched claw.

"Speaking of that half-breed," Roy said, "where is she?" Karma had gained some of Roy's respect since she piledrived him in the hallway and hung him up to dry.

"Perfectly safe in her true habitat," Yosie said, "but if you want the exact location, that'll have to cost you."

"Cost us what?" Iggy said, "I already lost ten coins to Lemmy."

"Sucker bet," Lemmy replied. To Iggy, of course.

"Seven Magic Wands is what I require for Karma's whereabouts."

"No chance in all of probability!" Ludwig shouted.

"Fine then. It seems force is necessary." Yosie pulled out the G. O. Wand. "I got this skill when I stole Kamek's wand. Magical Magnet!"

Suddenly, the Koopaling's seven wands shot out of their shells and flew into the G. O. Wand, where they stuck to the quad-colored orb.

"Give them back!" Roy shouted as he hopped up to clobber Yosie. The human gone Lakitu just flew out of range.

"Nice try, Bully, but I haven't shown my whole arsenal yet." He replaced the G. O. Wand and the seven other wands in his cloud and pulled out the Star Rod.

"The Star Rod?!" all seven Koopalings said at once.

Bowser, Kamek, and Kammy burst out the door. "Star Rod? Where?" Bowser shouted.

"Right here!" Yosie cried, waving the magical staff above his head.

"Release the rod immediately or suffer the alternative consequences!" Ludwig cried.

"I'll go with the 'or else,'" Yosie said.

"Fine!" Ludwig began to build up fire in his stomach, but Yosie had already made his move. Three star shapes contracted in a spin into the Star Rod, then three stars shot up from beneath Yosie, coating him and solidifying with a flash of light.

At that point, Ludwig shot a huge cloud of flame. It completely consumed the Lakitu, but when he stopped and the fire faded, he stood, or rather floated, right where he was without a scratch.

"Aah, that felt like a warm bath," Yosie said, "Now since I have what I came for, I take my leave of you."

The ship began to blast off, and the Commandos made their way back up.

"See ya later in Dinosaur Land," Yosie said through a megaphone on deck as the ship left, "and with that… BAM! I'm gone!"


End file.
